


They Call It Bastard Valley

by Littleladysongbirdwrites



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2018-12-04 18:17:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11560707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littleladysongbirdwrites/pseuds/Littleladysongbirdwrites
Summary: Trapped in a nightmare of an apocalyptic scenario, Max, Neil, and Nikki struggle to survive in hopes of one day escaping the Mountain Valley of Sleepy Peak Peak, and the hellish bastards, like themselves, that have taken it as their own.





	1. Prologue: Apparently the World Ended

Apparently The World Ended (Prologue)

  He was ten years old when the world ended, alone in his large, empty, robotic-filled house as bombs crashed down and sirens rang out.

  Once the disaster ended, and he and parts of the world were very much still alive, he collected what he could from the rubble and ran without any desire to return.

  He still had the scars from his father, his dreams were still filled with cold, harsh stares of disapproval and disappointment, but he was free and independent and damn, did it feel good.

  But he was ten, and despite his sharp wit and natural brilliance, he wasn’t quite as untouchable as he often felt he was.

  “Oh Maxwell,” Pikeman spat, gesturing for Snake to deal another blow to Max’s ribs, “you really are way in over your head, aren’t you?”

  “Suck a dick Pikeman.” Max growled, using the wall of the abandoned convenience store to hold him up, “I was just passing through your territory so I didn’t-”

  “Excuses, excuses,” Pikeman kicked forward, sending Max tumbling down to the dirt, “now, what were you really doing here?”

  “I told you, you fucking idiot,” Max pushed himself up onto his arms, looking his enemy straight in the eyes, “I’m just passing through.”

  “Through our surplus room?”

   Max said nothing, dropping his gaze as he tried to pull his strength together. Pikeman merely smirked. “I knew it; you just can’t keep your hands to yourself, can you Maxwell?” He gave an ugly, snot-driven laugh, reaching his sweaty hand out to his defeated opponent. “Hand it over now, Maxwell.”

  “Dude come on,” Max coughed, standing himself back up, “it was just a fucking jar of peanut butter. You have over two hundred in there, man. Can’t I trade it for something else? Candles? A broken watch?” Pikeman froze, his forehead crumpled in thought for a few moments before a yellow, toothy smile began to grow.

  “Actually, I have a proposition for you,” he swiped Max’s bag, tripping him once again with a swift kick to the knees, “there’s this weird girl who came through yesterday, stole some of our canned goods and bread. She ran across the tiny desert into the mountains, but she was injured, so she couldn’t have gone far.”

  “So why the hell should I care?”

  “Because if you want this bag back with the jar, you need to bring her to us by tomorrow mid-day. If you don’t, you either leave without it, or you have to stay as an honorary Wood Scout recruit. Do I make myself clear?”

  Max spat, blood splattering the ground. “Do I have a fucking choice?”

  “Twenty four hours, Maxwell,” Pikeman threw down a coil of rope and a hunting knife, “she’s tiny and fast and has a bushel of green curly hair. We’ll be waiting.”

  Max stood himself up, taking a few breaths before cleaning his mouth and turning out of the alleyway. Just before him lay a small desert; an old field burned and ruined by God-only-knows. But nobody cared enough to give it a distinct name, so it was the Desert, and for the time, he was clear to cross it. Quietly, Max limped across the cracked, dry ground, feeling hundreds of eyes watching him from every tower in the Wood Scout Camp, Pikeman's burning especially bright.

  He spat the ground once more at the thought.

  He was by no means the most gentle and merciful being, but compared to the Wood Scouts he was a fucking martyr. They were nothing but a swarm of human ticks: the remains of an abandoned military school who had so righteously decided themselves to be a literal force of strength. They robbed and ambushed as many stragglers and wild children as they could get their hands on, hauling in loads of defenseless kids and more supplies than they needed, even at their marginally growing scale. Max had been stealing their shit for months without a hitch, much to Pikeman's very obvious confusion and frustration. Still, even he underestimated Pikeman's ability to properly defend the storage unit (even when it was only one man). 

  Max blinked, straining his eyes at the grove of trees that stood before him. There was a distinct trail of shiny red paint, speckled across a direct path of trees that winded up the first stretch of the mountain. With another deep breath, he trudged forward, feeling the sky melting from a blistering orange to a mute shade of purple. After a while, as the sun began to set on the horizon, the red paint had disappeared, leaving only a very beaten path of flattened brush up, which Max followed until he reached a large clearing, and the person he was looking for. 

  “Will you hold the fuck still, Nikki?”

  “It’s seriously no big deal Neil; it’s just my wrist!”

  “An hour ago you were screaming how you’d rather be eaten by wolves than deal with the pain.”

  “See? It’s just getting better!”

  Max watched them, hidden from sight among the tall shadows and twigs. Both of them were kids, not much older than himself, if they were even older at all. As Pikeman had explained, the girl possessed a wild mane of green curls and a numerous amount of scars and bruises along her arms and face. The boy, while clearly worn and exhausted, was a lot less banged-up than his companion. He was scrappy and bony and, Max figured, would have probably ended up a mangled corpse had he not befriended crazy-eyes. With distinct hesitation, Max glanced down at the rope and knife Pikeman had lent him before looking back upon his supposed targets. 

  Pikeman was a total idiot to trust him in any sense. 

  With the gears in his brain turning swiftly, Max stepped out of the brush, the borrowed weapons loosely dangling at his side. 

  "You the crazy dumb-ass who the Wood Scouts are looking for?" The two companions froze for only a split second before Nikki jumped up to her feet, Neil’s hands still firmly locked on the set splint. “Who the fuck wants to know?”

  “Name’s Max,” he threw up his arms and dropped his weapons, rolling his eyes, “Wood Scouts sent me to kidnap you and bring you back to the camp so they could imprison you or some dumb shit."

  "Seriously, who the hell are _you_?" Neil asked, giving the splint one final tug before letting go of Nikki’s wrist. “Are you a Wood Scout?”

  “Hell no,” Max grunted, “they’re just holding all my weapons and ammunition hostage until I bring you back.” Nikki blinked, head cocking in confusion.

  “And you just expect us to walk back with you and get kidnapped.”

  “…I mean,” Max shifted, a tad hesitant in his voice as he eyed his rope and blade, “I wasn’t going to fucking cut you and tie you up like an animal or some shit like that."

  "...You weren't?"

  "Look," Max blurted, a small idea rapidly spinning in his head, "You've escaped the Wood Scouts once, correct?"  

  “Well, I have,” Nikki proudly held her head high, “but Neil here’s a big chicken!”

  “I am not!” He protested, “I’m just not built to be super durable, that’s all.”

  “Look, nobody gives a fuck,” Max rolled his eyes, dropping his arms and approaching the two with a charming smile, "we’re all out here trying to survive, right? So why don’t we all work together and steal some more shit from them and get the hell out of dodge? These mountains are good for nothing but getting sunburned and trying to catch buzzards. Us three stick together and pull this off, and we don't ever need to fight over food again.”

  “You sure about that?" Neil asked, eyebrow sharply raised. 

  "You got anything to loose but your life Neil?"

  Neil opened his mouth to protest, but simply dropped the argument with a sigh. "Alright; wise guy, how the fuck am I supposed to fight?"

  "You don't have to!" Nikki scoffed, running over to Max's side and picking up the pocket knife, “Like I said, I can still fight!”

  “So then what do I do?"

  “You got a gun Neil?” Max asked. The young boy faltered, his face turning red with the deep shame of a ten-year old.

  "How did you-”

  “It’s the fucking Apocalypse, okay?” Max shrugged. "Everybody’s carrying around fucked up shit. So you got a gun?”

  “Well, yeah, but it only fires blanks.”

  "Trust me, Neil," Max grinned, throwing his arm around his newfound acquaintance, "The Wood Scouts are fucking morons. They won’t know the difference.'

  "So," Nikki dropped to the ground, scratching the mud with the blade, "what's the plan?"

* * *

 

  Pikeman, as usual, had unintentionally made everything far too easy for his enemies. And so, when Max signaled across the desert just before lunch break, he had gathered his two best men and sent everyone out to their bunkers to eat. No men saw a thin shadow slipping through the alleyways; even Max and Nikki, who were patiently watching the base camp grow larger before their eyes, had no idea where Neil had disappeared to. All that was left to do was wait patiently. 

  "Well, well, well," Pikeman smiled, his teeth an unnecessarily crude shade of yellow, "you actually did as you were told."

  "Wasn't fucking hard," Max shrugged, "pretty sure you could've captured her yourself if you wanted to."

  "Shut up." With a careless toss, Max's bag and belongings were flung in front of him. "There; all your items, including the jar of peanut butter. Now, if you would just hand her over-"

  "You're a fucking moron if you think I'm giving her over before I check this, right?" Max asked, his black eye shooting daggers back at the Wood Scout Leader. Pikeman fumed, glaring at Nikki, who was growling on all fours with a primal look in her eyes. 

  “Fine.” Pikeman scoffed, slowly stepping back. "Just hurry up."

  The three Wood Scouts stood completely still under the blistering sun, agonizingly watching as Max checked the contents of his bag. To his surprise, Pikeman had kept his promise: not a single blade or box had been tampered with.

  “I'm impressed, Pikeman," he grinned, "you actually kept your end of the deal."

  "Wood Scouts always adhere to their promises. Now," he leaned forward, reaching for the rope, "hand her over."

  "Alright here you go,” Max shrugged, dropping Nikki’s rope. Within seconds, she had charged forward, ramming herself into Snake and biting his nose like some wild, vicious animal. Once she had drawn blood, she turned, her hands propelling her forward to kick Petrol directly between the legs. Both boys fell to the ground in seething pain, Nikki continuing to claw and punch until neither of them had any strength to move. 

  “Max, you little shit!” Pikeman screamed, charging towards Max with his wobbly chicken legs. Max, far too smug and amused for Pikeman's liking, merely turned his body, stretching his leg just far enough to send Pikeman tumbling forward. With a swift thud, he hit the ground, shattering his knee in the process.

  "Hey!" Max yelled to Nikki, who was wiping away at her soiled, bloody hands. "Where the fuck is Neil?"  Suddenly, the squeaking of rubber filled the air, as Neil sped over in one of the Wood Scout’s golf carts, holding the gun backwards in his hand like a crazy idiot. As he began to slow down, the faint screaming of angry boys rumbled in the distance. Breaking sharply, his voice cracked through the air. 

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

  Nikki and Max bolted to the cart as Neil re-started the engine, the three of them bolting across the Desert far too fast for any of the Wood Scouts to catch up.

  “Suck a dick losers!” Nikki howled with laughter, standing up in the back seat. “What a bunch of pussies!”

  “Calm down Nick,” Max called from shotgun, “our nerd here’s one second from throwing you from the back seat if you don’t sit your ass down.”

  “Hey!” Neil shouted, sharply turning to plunge down into one of the lower mountain valleys, “if you have a problem with my driving, why don’t you drive the fucking vehicle?”

  “Man come on, they beat the shit out of me yesterday!”

  “Hey guys?” Nikki called, crawling to stick her own head on top of the small crates between the two boys, “where are we going anyways?”

  “Eh, wherever,” Max shrugged, “as long as we stay away from god damn weirdos for a while.”


	2. Winterfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As winter descends, the fight for survival grows more violent and desperate, as Max, Nikki, and Neil realize a tad too late.

  They call it Bastard Valley: overrun with violent children without supervision or guidance. It’s a war-zone of survival, and those few who are lucky enough to escape never wish to go back, even for the friends they left behind.

  
  But even children are capable of sophistication in times of desperation, and Bastard Valley, for being known as hell on earth, was still divided and organized to a certain extent. To the north, along the cracked clay deserts beneath the mountains, the Wood Scouts reigned: powerful and merciless to all who opposed them. More south, in the overgrown clearings and hills, the Flower Scouts resided: cold hearted and practically isolated from the rest of Bastard country. Bands of child pirates fought by western shores of the lake, and groups of wild children ran under the canopy of the woods, each more ruthlessly violent than the last.

  None of them were completely safe; not even the strongest among them.

  “Kick his ass Max!” Nikki screamed from the rooftop, lungs burning dry from the frost that had begun to settle. The crowd below her seemed to swell in argument, completely circling the two opponents in the ring.

  From a strictly visual standpoint, Max was at a complete disadvantage. He stood at half the height of his opponent, and was nowhere near a comparable body weight. Had Neil had his way, they’d be back at the cave, bundled under stolen blankets and doing their best to cure their frostbite and injuries from hunting.  
Instead, they were competing in the fighting ring for a god-damn saw.

  “You’re a sad sack of shit, aren’t you pipsqueak?” Nerf laughed, tossing his shirt aside. Max merely rolled his eyes, tearing off his own and tossing it to Neil with no acknowledgement of the freezing air.

  “Better than being a dumb sack of shit.”

  Nikki’s laughter roared from above, setting off a ferocious wave of noise that did nothing but aggravate his imposing opponent.

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you.” The threat is definite, signaling a hard, bone-shattering punch across Max’s face, breaking his nose with a loud crunch that cuts through the violent melody of screaming.

  The entire crowd falls silent. Even Nerf, breathing low and triumphant, stands stunned by his own actions. Max coughed, nearly paralyzed at the strength of the force and the strong damage of the injury. But he’s stubborn, crawling back up on his feet, blood pouring down his face and dripping from a wicked smile.

  “You fucked up.” Nurf hit the ground, his own ribs cracking as Max dealt a swift round of kicks to his own nose. Within minutes they’re both on the ground, blood splattering and gushing from wounds sliced open by the crushed pavement below them. The fight lasted for five minutes, until the red-splattered ground turned into a pool of blood. The bell clattered, calling for the forcible separation of the two boys. Preston declared a tie, but the true winner was clear:

  Nerf looked like shit, but was still standing with strength and determination.

  Max had been completely shattered.

  He couldn’t stand. He could hardly breathe, leaning on Neil for support as he tried to open his mouth. His entire body was stained in heavy patches of red. His skin was swollen a dark purple, coated in thick layers of frost-covered chalk.

  Even Nikki was completely shaken by the sight of him.

  “Max?” She whispered, unnaturally innocent and whispy, “are you going to be okay?”

  “Get the saw, we need to go.” Neil hoisted Max onto his back, tugging hard so that his own jacket could cover the scar tissue on his back. Nikki ran through the crowd, the saw hoisted sharply at her hip, as the three of them left the fighting ring, which was already being cleaned and prepared for the next round.

  They were silent until the lights of town were long lost in the undergrove, snow finally flaking down through the pines. Neil coughed, too weak to carry Max much farther.

  “Nikki,” he stopped, “get him off me, can you? My back’s fucked up.”

  Nikki was silent, gently grabbing Max and laying him on the blanket. He had fallen asleep during the walk, and the sudden sting of snowflakes on his face had finally roused him.

  “Fuck.”

  “You’re a fucking moron.” Neil sighed, holding up the saw. “At this rate this piece of shit is gonna be cutting your casket.”

  “Don’t be such an ass, Neil.” Max coughed. “You know everyone’s out hunting whatever the fuck they can find; we need those fucking fish to…fucking hell-”

  “Quit talking.” Nikki hushed her friend. “You look like you’re a zombie, are you sure you didn’t die on the way here?”

  “Come on Nikki, quit joking.” Neil sat down to look at Max’s injuries, wincing at the sheer gore. The cuts were deep, some of the stones still stuck inside his skin. His nose was crooked, and his eye completely black. Wiping his hands in the fallen snow, Neil examined one of the gashes on his arm.

  A thin, liquid pus had begun to form.

  “…We’re fucked.” Neil’s eyes were dark, lost in panic and complete disbelief at the fate of his friend. “He needs direct medical attention or he’s going to fucking die.”

  Nikki blinked, unwilling to register what he was saying. “No, you don’t mean that. It’s Max! He’s going to be fine!”

  "Nikki, he’s going to get an infection. Even if we used every clean cloth and boiled hot water and all of the liquor we found, he could lose an arm or leg over this.”

  "I’m right,” Max wheezed, “fucking here, you dipshits!”

  "You don’t get to fucking talk!” Neil snapped. “Obviously you’re really shitty about trying to make decisions that guarantee you’re gonna survive here in this hell hole. So unless you got a bright idea for what to do with you, you can shut the-”

  “I know.”

  The boys stopped talking, taken aback by the sudden serious tone in Nikki’s voice. Her eyes were fixed out into the woods, glazing over snow dusted logs and rocks until there was nothing but the dark shadow of the woods.

  “There’s a man who roams about here; with a big mask and gun. I see him sometimes when I’m out hunting. He doesn’t say anything, but he’s there.” She turned to her boys, defiantly smiling. “He lives by the lake in some cabin; I’m sure he has to have medicine; he’s always collecting plants and shit and putting them in his bag. It’s a long shot, but if it means Max doesn’t die, then I think it’s worth a shot.”

  Both boys looked at each other. Max sighed, too tired to argue anymore.

  “Fine. Nikki, when do you want to go?”

  “Right now!” She chirped, hoisting Max and his blanket upon her shoulders. Neil yelped, stunned as Nikki grabbed his arm and dragged him through the windy, dark woods, the saw cluttering behind them with every quickened step. The moon was still shining, and while it was hard to see, the snowflakes lit the path just enough for them to pass through without tripping over a spare root or natural ledge. Their lungs burned like fire, dry and exhausted and desperate for a miracle, but it got them to the clearing, and the cabin that snugly situated itself just off the shoreline.

  The snow appeared to make everything new again; coating all possible activities of human life. The windows were dark and foggy; its beams sturdy enough to withstand the wind. Nikki and Neil exchanged a look, slightly hesitant to move any closer.

  “You sure this is the right place Nick?”

  "One way to find out.” She slowly approached the door, careful not to let Max drop from her arms. With a sharp flick of her ankle, the house shook, sure to rouse whoever or whatever resided inside, if anything was still there.

  But the house was still silent; no doors or floorboards creaked from the inside. Nikki kicked the door again.

  “Let us in!” Her voice cracked in the wind. “We need to see the woodsman!”

  The door opened sharply, revealing a shaded figure and the polished barrel of a shotgun.

  “Who the fuck are you?” The voice was serious, unsuspectingly stoic and distinctly feminine. Neil stepped in front of Nikki, arms raised in defense.

  “We need medicine. Please, just let us stay the night. We’ll pay you back in blankets or firewood or shit.”

  “What makes you think I have medicine?”

  “We don’t. We’re just-”

  “Come on, Gwen,” a softer voice called from within the cabin, “let them in.” Slowly, the barrel dropped, replaced with a stern, weather-worn face. Gwen didn’t offer a shred of comforting expression, but she was calm, slowly opening the door and letting the three children into the foyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first official part! Thank you to everyone reading/commenting/kudos or whatever! Every little thing means the world to me!  
> I know this chapter was a bit more serious, but the tone will lighten up a bit more as the story continued!  
> XOXO  
> Diana


	3. Chapter 3: Upon the Hearth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter descends as our children find shelter, trapped inside and unaware of what the weather brings with its wicked winds.

  As is nature’s way, winter arrived quickly and aggressively, blanketing the entire Valley in snow until it transformed  into a singular, crystallized landscape. For once, everything had fallen completely still, free of movement, lost in time. The Valley was at peace. And so, trapped behind mounds of ice and sturdy timber, feverish and deathly ill, all three children were led upstairs to the attic to rest, where hot water, alcohol, and bandages were all being set out across the wooden surface of the table.

  Dehydrated, starving, and frostbitten, the night passed in a blur of white cloth and heavy steam. Nikki and Neil, physically drained and freezing from trekking outside, were each given a set of warm clothes and wrapped in a warm quilt before being gently laid to sleep. Max, feverish and fading in-and-out of consciousness, was laid out on the table, helpless to the pricking of needles and the hissing sound of pure alcohol coursing through his opened veins. Deprived of sanity, he screamed at the top of his lungs, thrashing and sobbing until he collapsed, unconscious before his head fell back. With a final, soft thud against the wooden surface of the table, the room echoed a harsh, dull silence.  Still, the working hands only paused for a moment, carefully resuming their stitching and wrapping until Max, too, was tucked into a warm bed.

  In the hush of early morning, surrounded by the haze of candlelight, the two strangers sat, watching over the children as they slept. Gwen sighed, fingers grazing the tip of the flame that flickered before her. Shifting her weight, she leaned into her companion’s shoulder, letting the weight of her shoulders to fall onto his own.

  “You sure this was a good idea David?”

  “What do you mean?” He asked, gently brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. “You saw his injuries. It’s lucky he was still alive in the first place.”

  “Look, I’m not suggesting it was good to let him die, but these kids,” she clutched her stomach, subconsciously checking for the presence of fat between her bones, “I don’t want to starve this winter.”

  “They won’t,” David squeezed her hand, “I know you’re worried about that, but we have more than enough food; feeding three extra mouths shouldn’t be too much harder for us.”

  Gwen sat up, careful to keep the candle from knocking onto the floor.

  “You’re not serious, David.”

  “Come on, Gwen,” he gently gripped her shoulders, his eyes burning into hers with a rare sternness, “you know as well as I do that they’re not going to make it through the winter at this rate. They’re practically skeletons. I don’t…I know we can’t afford to feed all of them out there and keep them alive. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help when we can.”

  Gwen groaned, closing her eyes in defeat.

  “Well, I don’t have much of a choice considering we’ve been snowed in.”

  “Oh come on,” David laughed, pulling Gwen into his chest, “you’re not heartless enough to throw kids out in the freezing cold.”

  “Still stuffed a shotgun in their face.”

  “An unloaded shotgun.”

  Gwen said nothing, shutting her eyes and slowly dropping onto David’s lap in a heavy slumber. He sighed, gently stroking her hair until, he too, let the low hum of the winter winds lull him to rest.

***

  By all accounts, Max should’ve been dead.

  The damage wasn’t completely permanent by any means, but with three broken ribs and half of his body embedded in stitches, his chance of survival depended on undamaged airways, a lack of infection, and a miracle of God.

  Or, per Neil’s suggestion, pure fucking stubbornness.

  Whatever it was, Max pulled through, waking up after nearly thirty six hours with a queasy feeling in his stomach headache and the smell of weird herbs drafting through the air.

  Within seconds, he was leaned over the side of the bed, hurling into whatever unfortunate container had been placed beside him. Closing his eyes, he heaved, screaming as he tried to rid his stomach of whatever was left.

 “Hey,” a soft voice hummed from behind him, “it’s okay, let it all-”

  Startled by the sudden sensation of a cold hand upon his shoulders, Max threw a punch behind him. The victim fell onto the floor, screaming in a pitchy, almost pathetic, agony.

  “Owwie!”

  “The fuck are  _you_?” Max screamed, immediately tearing his voice and erupting in a violent coughing fit that paralyzed him completely.

  “David!” A voice shrieked from across the room, “What the fuck happened?”

   “Doesn’t matter,” David hissed, voice slightly pitched due to the tight grip he held over his nose. “He can’t breathe; start the machine.”

  Gwen obeyed, jamming the plug into the solar-powered outlet and immediately snapping the mask around Max’s face until his breathing had settled back to normal. Slowly, he laid back on the bed, pain slowly pulsing through his body.

  “I know it all hurts, kid.” Max winced as he was tucked back into his own bed, his bandages pulling tightly at his skin. Slowly, he reopened his one eye, observing the young woman sitting beside him.

  “Who are you?”

  “Name’s Gwen,” she yawned, placing a damp cloth to his forehead, “I almost shot you in the face, remember?”

  “Not really.” Max shivered at the cold cotton, the ice between its work fibers pricking his skin. “I feel like shit.”

  “You look like shit.”

  “You’re not exactly the kindest person are you?”

  “Just trying to keep up my hard-ass reputation.”

  “Oh, so you’re the weird-ass man in the woods then?”

  “Well, actually-”

  “Hey Gwen?” Nikki’s wild mane popped up from the floorboard, “Why is David sobbing into a handful of tissues?”

  “Max woke up, got sick, and punched him in the nose.”

  Nikki gasped, jumping and skirting across the floor until she came nose-to-nose with her friend. “Aw, Gwen, you brought him back from the dead!”

  “Nikki,” Gwen groaned, “he didn’t die. This isn’t the zombie apocalypse. Just the shitty apocalypse.”

  Nikki cocked her head on an angle, brow raised and eyes hooded in genuine suspicion.

  “…Are you sure he’s not a zombie? He looks like he died.”

  “I feel like I’ve died,” Max moaned, clutching his nose while curling on his stomach, “this place smells like a god-damn funeral home.”

  “Actually, this is an old campground.” A lanky young man stepped into the room, clad in an old camp shirt, flannel, and a faded pair of jeans rolled up by his ankles. He turned towards Max, softly smiling as he strolled to Gwen’s side,  a damp yellow cloth resting awkwardly across the bridge of his nose. “You have a nice hook, if I do say so myself!”

  “Uh, thanks? I guess?”

  “Oh, Max, this is David,” Gwen pointed to her companion, “he actually owns the cabin. He just kind of let me stay here.”

  “What are you talking about?” David snorted, innocent and surprisingly quiet despite the energy in his voice. “You’re my best friend. I’m not just gonna throw you out in the Valley by yourself.”

  “Hey guys?” Neil shrieked from below the staircase, “there’s something out there?”

  “Out where?” Max turned to Nikki. “What’s going on?”

  “Oh everything’s fine Max!” Nikki snorted, her voice dropping to an unnatural whisper. “We just…we’re just being careful, that’s all!”

  Gwen stood up, grabbing her shotgun from behind a crate and loading it with a few spare rounds from her pocket. “Neil, get up in the attic and watch over Max with Nikki. David, run down and kill the lights and lock the windows. Kids, there’s some food in the basket if you’re up here for a while. You know where the spare is Nikki? Neil; clean his wounds?”

  “We got it,” Neil coughed as he crawled up into the room, “go.”

  David and Gwen jumped down from the attic, wasting no time in shutting and locking the trap door until all that could be seen was four walls, three kids, and a single, burning candle.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! This one was a doozy to crank out, but I am so excited to march forward and keep working on this chapter! Like always, I hope you all enjoyed it; thank you so much for reading! It means the world!
> 
> -XOXO Diana


	4. Update *Hiatus*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note

Hey guys! Happy Holidays to you all!

So...where's chapter four?

Currently, chapter four is stored with the drafts & outlines for chapters 5 and 6 on my computer, which is probably not the news anybody following this story wants to hear. 

Is this story closed?

Not at all! I love working on this story and playing with the concepts, but I'm also a full-time student and have been doing a lot of job-searching and personal project work over the past few months, which means that fics have been pushed to the back-burner, which really sucks and breaks my heart. However, I am planning to move forward, and am even considering starting another fic series, updating maybe once a month. I'm so sorry for the wait on this story, but I promise to come back to it as soon as I have time. Thank you to everyone who has read this and decides to come back to it in the future.

Much love, Diana

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovelies! Thank you so much for reading! I'm working on Chapter Two right now as we speak! Expect a lot more ass-kicking and blood in the following chapters (it is the end of the world, after all).
> 
> XOXO - Diana


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